Last year saw Walls Engineering mark 100 years in existence so Building Ireland felt it was about time it caught up with one of the country’s leading structural steel engineering firms.
How many businesses last a century? While it remains a difficult one to answer, Co Carlow-based company Walls Engineering continues to stay strong in its 101st year with more than 50 staff and plenty of projects on hand at the moment.
A third generation wholly Irish owned family run business, Walls Engineering is based at Walls Forge, Chapelstown on the Tullow Road and specialises in the design, detailing, fabrication and erection of steel structures, along with operating an extensive general engineering workshop.
The company’s highly experienced staff and state of the art equipment have allowed it to become a major player within the industry and its adaptability, skill and experience is proven by past results.
Conor Wall is the company’s current Managing Director and outlined what the business is all about to Building Ireland when we caught up with him recently.
“We’re in Chapelstown, Co Carlow and the company is established 101 years now. We’ve 53 staff and my father Peter and my brother Peter jnr are part of the directorship here,” Conor explained.
“We specialise in the design, detailing, fabrication and erection of steel structures and we are also operating an extensive general engineering workshop,”
“We carry out work for ESB headquarters and other big names in Dublin. At the moment we’re working on two big projects in the UK so business is good.”
Walls Engineering comprises of two separate sections within the company; the first being Structural Steel and General Engineering works section and the second being the Mechanical Services and Utilities section headed under the management of brothers Conor and Peter Wall jnr, respectively.
The Mechanical and Utilities division operate an efficient and reliable 24-hour on call service to Bord Gais Networks along with being involved with both mechanical and civil works for AGI capacity upgrades to the existing gas network.
At Walls Engineering, they are committed to working with clients on projects of all types and offer a full range of structural steel services. Projects range from large complex structures to light commercial buildings and their manufacturing facility houses the equipment and personnel capable of handling all aspects of structural steel.
With state of the art production equipment integrated with design software it allows the firm to operate in a highly efficient manner.
Walls Engineering also takes pride in the quality of its products, and are supported by Quality Assurance Accreditation ISO 9001:2008.
As aforementioned, Walls Engineering is a third generation family firm and its history dates way back to the early 1900s when it commenced operations from their forge and over the years has advanced accordingly to cater for market demands.
The firm has grown to become a leading supplier of structural steel and secondary steel components within the Irish construction industry and plays an extensive role within the gas and utilities sector.
Throughout its history Walls Engineering has successfully completed a wide range of high quality projects all over Ireland and have grown to earn a solid track record for producing high quality steel structures and secondary steel solutions.
Using the most up to date design and manufacturing equipment, the Carlow-based company is committed to fabricating and delivering top quality steel structures and steel components to its clients.
Some of recent projects of the business have ranged from Industrial units, Complex steel structures, Call Centres, Garage Showrooms and Waste water treatment facilities. While their secondary steel solutions range from Mezzanine floor structures, stairs, access platforms, hand railing, access ladders and an extensive range of steel components.
While Conor admits that the economic downturn had its effect on the business, he also points out that its trusted name and loyal clientele helped it come through it to the point where it is now thriving again.
“We would have been scaled back by the downturn but we’ve built up a good reputation here and the family is well-known, so customers tend to stick with us,” he said.
“We’ve jobs with Bennett Construction for student accommodation on Dorset Street and we’re also working on a job with them in Trinity.
“We’ve another data centre job going on in Blanchardstown, Paypal in Dundalk and Google and Facebook on Dorset Street as well.”
Customer satisfaction has always been the goal at Walls Engineering and the general feeling amongst the company’s directorship is that it’s what brings clients back to them time and again, as their preferred supplier for their expertise and involvement on their projects.
“I suppose clients choose us first because of our commitment to the programme,” said Conor.
“We give the resources needed to complete a project and we’re completing our work on time for them.”
Walls Engineering guarantees total quality control of structural steelwork during manufacture and installation from start to finish and also possesses the skills, manpower, plant and expertise to deliver any structural steel project throughout the country.
The company also boasts an impressive general engineering workshop which has been in operation over the last 35 years, providing an excellent prompt service to all industries.
With regards to onsite facilities, Walls Engineering has approximately eight on site crews. These highly skilled operatives have fully equipped vans, allowing them to carry out installations, repair work and fabricate on site as required.
In more recent times the company has decided to make an expansion to its facility on the Tullow Road, as Conor explained: “We are expanding capacity-wise here. We are just after putting a new extension to our headquarters here in Chapelstown.”
So if it’s experts in the fabrication and erection of structural steelwork and cladding for either the Industrial, Commercial or Leisure sectors that you require, look no further than Walls Engineering.
Walls Engineering Co. Ltd
Walls Forge,
Chapelstown, Tullow Road,
Co Carlow
Tel: 059 9142843
Fax: 059 9142344
E-Mail: [email protected]
Taken from Building Ireland Magazine, January 2018, Vol 4 No 1
